Next in Line
by The Demonic Heiress
Summary: Laria is a demon from hell, but not just any demon. She's the next in line for the demonic throne, but she doesn't want that. She runs away from home and tries to make a life for herself, but that's kinda hard when your being hunted by Heaven and Hell.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Laria has been on the run ever since she was thirteen years old. She's been going from town to town, state to state. She's never been in one place for long because they always seem to be following her. It doesn't matter who it is. Heaven or Hell, they both want her, and they will stop at nothing until they get her.

The thing is Laria is a runaway demon. She's not like the other demons, though, which were created by Lucifer. She was born a demon. A lot of cultures believe that she could even be the anti-Christ. She is the first one of her kind, and that's why she's being hunted. Hell wants to use her as a weapon once the apocalypse starts and Heaven wants her dead so Hell can't have her.

Laria ran away from Hell the night before her thirteenth birthday. She had overheard one of the demons say that Lucifer would finally begin to train her for the war. As soon as she heard that she knew she had to leave. It's not that her life was torture; she just couldn't stand a life in Hell. She found a way into the human would and just kept running and running.

Her current home is in Black Water Ridge, Colorado. She has been living there for five months now, which is the longest she's ever been in one place, and so far, it's been her favorite. She is now living the life of a normal girl. She attends high school as a senior, has an awesome best friend who she found out was a witch after an incident when they first met, and she doesn't have to run.

Or so she thought, but I guess that's what I get for being the next in line for the demonic throne.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Ms. Morrigan." I heard a voice calling my name but I didn't move. "Ms. Morrigan!" The voice was now yelling.

"What?" I complained. I opened my eyes and lifted my head off my desk. My teacher, Mrs. Forsyth, was hovering above me.

"I'm sorry if my lesson seems to be boring you, but could you please at least try to stay awake for the next half hour?" She hissed at me.

"I'll try." I said only to please her. I sighed and stretched my hands over my head and turned around to see my friend Kali shaking her head at me. I just shrugged and tried to endure the next thirty minutes of boredom.

Once class was over, I walked out the door and walked towards my locker, where Kali was waiting for me.

"What's going on? You've been falling asleep in class every day for the past week." Kali stated with a concerned look on her face.

"I've just had a rough couple of nights." I said as I exchanged my history book for my literature book. Once I was done I looked at her. "Honest." I said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"You're doing it again aren't you?" She asked me. I shut my locker and started walking down the hall. "Laria, I thought we agreed that you would stop hunting."

"No, you agreed." I stated with a sigh. "Why should I stop hunting them when they are continuingly chasing after me? All I've been doing is getting information from people."

"No one has come after you in over five months now right?" She asked and I nodded in response. "Then couldn't it be possible that they just finally gave up?"

"I wish it were, but no matter what, they will never give up."

We walked into the classroom and took our assigned seats, which just so happened to be on opposite ends of the room. I set my bag down next to my desk and got out my book and notebook.

"Alright class," Mrs. Robin said "Get your notes out. Where did we leave off yesterday?"

"Chapter six." Someone said.

"Thank you." She said, as she got her own notes out and began writing on the board.

Everyone was busy copying down the notes when a brown haired guy walked into the room. He was wearing dark denim jeans and a green T-shirt that he wore under a dark blue jacket. He had on some sort of necklace that looked like a pentagon. He walked up to Mrs. Robin and handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it then turned back toward us. "Class, we have a new student. This is Jensen Gerber." She gestured to him. I looked around the room and saw a few girls eyes go wide at the sight of him. I rolled my own eyes and turned my attention to look outside the window.

I looked out the window and watched some kids playing hooky in the football stadium. They were probably smoking or they just didn't care anymore. I shouldn't judge, though, since I'm the one who sleeps during class.

"You can take the empty seat next to Laria in the back there." I heard Mrs. Robin say. I made an annoyed noise to myself then looked back to the front and smiled my best fake smile. The guy smiled back and walked to the desk next to mine.

"Hey, I'm Jensen." He said holding out his hand for me, once he took off his backpack. I looked at him and noticed for the first time his bright green eyes.

"Laria." I said shaking his hand.

"Back to the lesson." The teacher called. I released his hand and continued writing the notes. I looked out of the corner of my eye and noticed Jensen looking at me. I quickly turned back to my notes and tried to ignore him.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked up at Mrs. Robin and waited for her to turn back towards the bored before I open the message.

'Newbie keeps staring at you.' It read. The message was from Kali. I looked over at her and she wagged her eyebrows at me mockingly. I rolled my eyes and went back to notes.

Once class was over I collected my things into my backpack and headed out the door. It was now finally lunchtime, so I walked to my locker and put away my backpack before heading towards the cafeteria.

I waited for Kali in the lunch line then we headed over to our usually table.

I didn't even get to start my sandwich before she started to interrogate me.

"So, are you going to tell me what you were doing last night?" She asked.

I gave her an annoyed look, then sighed. "I was just out getting information."

"About what exactly?"

"When they plan on attacking me next."

"Come on Laria. Can't you just be happy that they haven't shown up?"

"I wish I could, but this is the longest they have ever gone without sending someone. I know they have something big planned and I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of them. The last time I underestimated them, I almost lost my life."

"I know that, but can't you at least just try to enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit?"

"I can try, but I'm not I making any promises." I stated. With that said, I knew we were done with this discussion, so I began to eat my lunch.

"Mind if I sit here?" I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Jensen. I looked back at Kali, who only smiled.

"No, go right ahead." She said.

He smiled back and pulled out the seat next to me.

"So how do you like Black Water Ridge so far?" She asked him.

"It's pretty cool. I'm only here for my dad's business. We move a lot because of his job." He answered.

"Where have you lived before?"

"Well before this, we were in Ennis, Montana and right before that we lived in Phoenix, Arizona."

"Really? That's so cool. Hey Laria, didn't you say you lived in Phoenix before?" She asked me and I glared at her for bringing me into the conversation.

Jensen looked at me, waiting for my answer.

"Yeah I lived there, but it wasn't for long." I stated.

"Oh, really? Why not?" He asked me.

"Just needed a change, you know." I lied.

"So you and your parents just move whenever you get tired of a place?" He asked with a teasing smile on his face.

"Um, no. Just me, actually. Both my parents have been gone for years now and I have no family left so I've just been moving on my own."

I saw sympathy reach his eyes but I ignored it.

"I'm fine though. I mean, yeah it's hard, but I'd rather live on my own than with some foster family." I explained.

"I'm sorry." He said, sympathetically.

"Don't." Kali said to him. "Laria doesn't take any sympathy from anyone." She teased me.

"The only reason I don't take sympathy from others is because they have don't need to be sorry for me. What happened was in the past and I've moved on." I stated. I needed to change the subject before he asked me anymore questions. "So, Jensen, what classes do you have after lunch?"

He took out his schedule from his back pocket and looked at it. "Right after this I have calculus, woodshop and then gym last."

"Well, you have calculus with Kali and me and then you have gym with me." I told him. "We just need to go to our lockers and then we'll be walking over to the classroom. You can come with us if you want."

He smiled at me. "Sure, just lead the way."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

We walked into the class and took our seats. This was one of the few classes where the teachers actually let us sit wherever we wanted. I sat down at a desk in the back row. Kali took the one on the right of me and Jensen sat on my left.

The bell was just about ring when the rest of the class walked in. Samantha Fisher was one of the lasts ones to walk in. She always thought she could show up to class whenever she wanted just because she was the head cheerleader and everyone loved her. As soon as she saw Jensen her face lit up. She walked over and took the desk next to him.

"Hey." She said with a bright, white smile. "You're the new guy right?"

Jensen looked over at me and I just shrugged. He turned around and started talking to her. I rolled my eyes and turned towards Kali.

"So my grandma was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with us tonight." She said.

"What time?"

"Well dinner will be at seven, but you know you can come over earlier if you want." She smiled at me.

"Yeah, sure. I can come over, I just need to go home first and then I'll be right over." I said smiling back.

Kali nodded and then got started writing down the notes. I looked over at Jensen who was still stuck talking to Samantha. He looked over at me and I just smirked. He looked like he was about to tell me something but then Samantha stole back his attention.

By the time it was gym, I was completely exhausted. I walked to the locker rooms and changed into my PE clothes. When I walked out and into the gym, most of the class was already there, including Jensen. My gym class consisted of 28 boys and 3 girls, including myself.

I walked over to Jensen and sat down next to him on the bleachers.

"Hey." He said with a smile.

"Hey. So how was your chat with Samantha?" I asked with a smirk.

"It was… interesting. She invited me to some bonfire party this weekend." He said.

"Wow, your first day here and you're already Mr. Popular." I said still smirking.

"Are you going?"

"To what?"

"The party."

"Yeah, Kali told me I had. She said they only do it once a year and the whole school goes."

"Wait, so this would be your first one?" He asked, a little confused. "How long have you been here for?"

"Only five months." I stated.

"Really that's weird."

"How so?"

"When I was talking to Samantha she said it was rare to have someone new come into town. It's even rarer to have two."

"Yeah," I said thinking. "Everyone was surprised when I came into town. I bet they're even more surprised now that you and your family are here."

"Yeah I guess so." He said with a smile. With that said, our teacher walked in and class finally started.

I was sitting on my couch in my apartment, finishing up my homework. Once I was done I headed into my bedroom and opened up the top drawer in my dresser. I grabbed the box that was hidden under my jeans and grabbed my knife that was in it.

This knife was unlike any other. When I was in hell, it was made for me and for me alone. Who ever made it caved engravings into the blade. I never knew what it said; all I knew was that whatever it was, it was made so only I could use it the way it was built. To anyone else, it would only be a knife.

I put the knife in my boot and walked out of my apartment. I locked the door behind me and walked down toward my 67 mustang. I found the car abandoned a couple years back and I've been fixing it up ever since. Now it's as good as new. I started it up and drove over towards Kali's house.

As soon as I got there I could smell food cooking. I smiled and walked in through the front door.

"Hey, I'm here." I called.

A few seconds later a skinny, gray haired woman came out of the kitchen wearing an apron.

"Laria." She smiled, holding out her arms. I smiled and walked into her arms, giving her a huge hug.

"Emily, it's good to see you."

"You too, kiddo. I'm glad you could come over. Dinner should be ready in a few minutes. Kali's upstairs working on one of her spells."

"Alright, thanks." I said and started headed up the stairs towards Kali's room.

I walked into the room and say her sitting on her bed, legs crossed with pillows, books and CDs floating in circles around her.

"Looks like you got that thing down." I said.

She smiled and opened her eyes. She slowly brought the object back down on the bed.

"Thanks. Grams always said practice makes perfect." She smiled. "What about you? How have your powers been coming along?"

I smirked at her. "It's going ok. I've been practicing fire lately. I finally figured out how to control how hot it gets. I can even make it cold."

"Seriously? That's so cool. You'll have to show Grams. She's dying to see how far you've come with your powers."

"It's still not perfect but I guess I can show her a bit."

"Good." She smirked.

We sat and talked for a bit before Emily called us down for dinner.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_'Laria… Laria… Come to me Laria, I won't bit. We miss you. You belong with us. You belong in Hell!'_ The face that popped out at me forced me to wake up from my slumber. I was in a cold sweat and panting. Every year, on the anniversary of my escape from hell, Lucifer finds me in my dreams. It is the only time he has enough of a connection to reach me and every year he takes advantage of that. Like clockwork, he never misses a beat.

This year though, it was a bad time. Today was Friday, meaning that the bonfire was tonight. Lucifer won't disappear again until midnight. If he became strong enough he would be able to find out where I am and send his hounds and hordes after me. If they show up at the party tonight, I would be found out and be forced to leave yet once again.

I got ready for school, grabbed my bag and headed out the door and made my way towards my '67 mustang. I headed in the direction of the school and parked in the usually spot that Kali always saved right next to hers.

"Hey." She smiled at me once I got out.

"Hey." I responded and I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat.

"So, are you excited for the party tonight?"

"About that, I don't think I'm going to go."

"What? Why not?" She demanded.

"I'm just not feeling too good today."

"Grams can give you something that would have you feeling as good as new." Kali said. "Come on Laria. You can't leave me all alone. "

I groaned at her attempt. "I really don't think I should go."

"You are allowed to have fun every now and then too, Laria."

"But what if something goes wrong?"

She hit my arm and glared at me. "Quite being such a pessimist. Nothing is going to happen. I'll make sure of it."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I smiled and pretended that that reassured me, but it was all a lie. Kali is a strong witch and so is her Grams but even with the two of them put together they wouldn't be able to fight off a herd of hell hounds and power hungry demons.

We walked up the front steps of the building and headed towards our lockers. I put all the books I would need for my first few classes in my backpack and shut my locker. I leaned against it while I waited for Kali to gather her books. I looked down the hall and saw Jensen talking to Samantha and all the other cheerleaders and jocks.

"That dude is here one day and he's already Mr. Popular." I said rolling my eyes.

Kali looked over to Jensen who noticed us and waved. Kali waved back while I just stood there. "Maybe he was popular at his old school. Popular people can spot each other a mile away." She shrugged.

"Whatever." I said, "Let's just head to class." I pushed off of the lockers and headed across the hall to our first class of the day: calculus. Taking my seat, I grab my notebook and text book out of my bag and get ready for the day to begin.

"Can I go over to your place after school today?" Kali asked. "We can get ready for the party tonight and even have a pre-party party." She always loved a party. Every time they had one, she was there, whether she was invited or not.

"Yeah, sure." I said with a smile. "I got my speaker set up and everything. They neighbors will freak."

'Quit pretending to be such a good girl. We both know how you really are, and once your little friend finds out, she'll be running for the hills.' Lucifer's voice came to me again, but this time, instead of a face, he left me with a sharp pain in my head.

I shut my eyes at the impact of it, but it did nothing. When I opened my eyes again Jensen was in front of my desk.

"You ok?" He asked. I guess the pain was written all over my face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little headache."

He still had concern in his eyes as if he didn't believe me.

"I'm fine. I promise." I looked over his shoulder. "The rest of your friends are waiting for you."

He didn't even turn around to look at them. "You should take it easy today." That was all he said to me before he walked away, leaving the classroom. I stared at him as he walked away, wondering why he showed up.

"What was that all about?" Kali asked, as if she could read my mind.

"I don't know." I said still staring at the door.

For the rest of the day, my headache remained. Lucifer's voice never came back meaning he was saving his energy for something big. By the time school had ended, the headache had transformed into a migraine.

"You sure you're ok?" Kali asked, as we walked to our cars.

"I just need to get home and take some Tylenol or something." I answered, flinching at the sound of a honking horn somewhere in the parking lot.

We drove to my apartment and parked our vehicles. Once we were inside my apartment, I tossed my keys on the counter and headed for the bathroom to find the Tylenol. I grabbed the bottle only to find it empty. "Damn it." I hissed.

"What is it?" Kali asked from the couch in the living room.

"My headaches only getting worse and I'm out of Tylenol." I answered her as I threw away the empty bottle.

"If it's only a headache, I can fix that for you." Kali said. "Grams taught me this spell a few years back that helps gets rid of headaches and migraines."

I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch next to her. "Alright, give it a shot." I closed my eyes and listened to her begin to chant. I felt a small tingling feeling surround my head and then a few seconds later it was gone, along with my headache. I sighed in relief. "You are a life saver."

"Well we wouldn't want you to have a headache at the party. You wouldn't be able to have any fun." She smirked at me and headed for my room and into the closet. "So, have you decided what you're going to wear yet?"

"Nope." I answered, following her into my room and towards my closet.

"The party starts in a few hours and you haven't even decided what you are going to wear?"

"No, I was just going to grab something and throw it on before we leave." I shrugged and Kali looked like she was about to slap me.

"Are you kidding me? That's it; I'm picking your outfit." She stormed into my closet.

I sighed and laid down on my bed. When she finally emerged from the closet she was holding a red tank top that was a little short and would show my stomach, a pair of denim shorts and my black leather jacket. "This is perfect." She beamed. She tossed the clothes at me. "Now go change. I wanna see how it looks."

I rolled my eyes and headed for the bathroom. I changed into the outfit that she had given me and headed back into the room.

"Hot!" She said when she saw me walk into the room. She looked me over from head to toe and stopped when she saw my stomach. "I didn't know you had scars there."

I looked down at the three scars on the side of my stomach. "I got them when I was thirteen." I stated.

"From what?"

"I don't remember. It was a long time ago." I lied.

Kali looked like she was about to question me but dropped it. "Alright, now help me pick out something." She grabbed her bag and began to pull clothes out by the numbers.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kali and I arrived at the bonfire and headed down towards the rest of the crowd. Kali had decided to wear a red shirt and a black skirt. I added my favorite chocker to my outfit. It was a black chocker with a metal pentagram dangling in the center. It was the necklace a witch had given me a few years back to help me stay hidden from lower level demons that would be hunting me along with hell hounds.

Once we got down there, Kali headed for the coolers and began talking to some other friends. I sat down on one of the logs surrounding the fire and let the warmth wash over me. I closed her eyes and enjoyed the heat.

"You ok?" A voice said from behind me. My eyes shot open and I turned around to see Jensen.

"Yeah." I said. "I've just always liked warmth. It sometimes remind me of home, when it used to be a better place anyway."

"Where did you used to live?" He asked.

"Some place far away." Was all I said as I stared back at the fire.

"Well it looks like the fire likes you too." Jensen said, pointing towards the flame. Fire usually moves around but this flame was pointed right at me.

I tried to laugh it off. "Yeah, I guess it does." I waved my hand like I was waving off his comment but it was directed towards the fire. I was making the move in different directions without anyone noticing.

Jensen stepped over the log and sat down next to me. "So, are you having fun so far?"

I shrugged, "More or less. To be honest, I really shouldn't be here."

"And why is that?"

"I have some business I need to take care of." Without anyone getting hurt. I kept the last part to myself. "I'm going to go take a walk." I stood up and headed towards the forest of trees.

"Do you need any company?" Jensen asked, following behind me.

"It's a free country; you can do whatever you want." I sighed and continued walking.

I kept my head facing forward to make sure I wouldn't look over at him. It was all still too weird for me. It seemed like he knew something earlier today when he told me to take it easy, but that was impossible. When he had first arrived at the school, I couldn't sense anything magical about him so he obviously couldn't know about my situation. Could he?

"So how do you like Black Water?" I asked him to keep up a conversation since we had fallen into an awkward silence.

"It's very… interesting." Jensen said with a smile on him face. "I was thinking it was going to be boring since we only came here because of my dad's job, but it's been quiet entertaining."

"Samantha's keeping you entertained I take it." I said. "She really seems to have taken an interest in you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Seriously?" I asked and looked at his confused expression. "Think about it. You're new to the town and it's not like you're ugly or anything. You're fresh meat to girls around here."

"What about you?"

Hearing that made me stop dead in my tracks. I turned my body so I was completely facing him. "What?" I asked.

He smirked at my reaction. "Am I fresh meat to you?" He said taking a few steps closer to me.

"You wish." I rolled my eyes. I turned back around and continued my walk in the woods.

I heard a twig snap in the distance to the right of us. "Did you hear that?" I asked Jensen but when I looked behind me, there was no one there. "Jensen?" I called but there was no answer.

"Sorry, I had to take the boyfriend out. We wouldn't want him to freak out, now would we?" Said a familiar voice.

"Amon." I growled and turned to look at someone I had once known in hell. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here. What did you do to Jensen?"

"Oh so that's his name." Amon smirked. "I may have flung him somewhere in that direction." He said pointing to my left. Amon's black eyes- that matched the color of him spikey hair- were staring intensely at me. He blinked his eyes to reveal his meat suit's green eyes.

"So what, you just figured you could take the body of some local teenager and no one would notice. Someone is going to notice in a small town like this."

"By the time they notice it will be too late for him and you." He smirked and whistled into the night air. "You remember Helias right?" He said and soon enough his large hell hound was at his side, bearing its disgusting teeth at me.

"What do you want Amon?"

"The same thing every demon wants these past years. To bring you in and collect the prize."

"You honestly think it's going to be that easy?" I laughed at him.

"We'll just have to see." He said, gleaming a devilish smirk at me. "Helias, attack!"

The hell hound leaped towards me, claws outstretched towards me. I leaped in the air and jumped over the beast. I landed gracefully on the ground and grabbed a sai dagger that I had tucked in my boot. "Bring it on ugly."

The beast ran back at me and I got myself into fighting stance with my sai in my right hand. I glared down the hell hound and tossed the sai at it, nailing him square in the shoulder. He cried out in pain but it wasn't enough to make him fall. "Alright then, time to amp it up." I said to the beast.

It ran at me again but before it could get to me a lifted up my hand to create a fire vortex around me. Helios growled and circled around me, waiting for a moment to strike. Just as I was about to let my vortex down to attack, someone in a mask jumped out in front of the fire. He started slashing at the air around him.

"Well, well, well, who is this?" Amon said from where he stood and watched.

The newbie glared at Amon and slashed at the area where he could see a floating sai in the air. I brought down my vortex. "Get out of here!" I shouted at the guy. He slashed at Helios but not before the giant hell hound could lung at the guy. I noticed the hound was able to scratch the guy on his upper right arm. I glared at the hound and shot a blaze of fire at him to get him away from the guy. He cried out in pain once more from the burn from my flames and from the mystery guy's knife.

Amon cursed under his breath when he noticed that Helias was far to injured to continue. "I guess you won this round, Laria." He smirked. "But we'll be back. Ta ta." I lunged at him but it was too late, he had already disappeared.

I heard movement behind me and knew it was the mystery guy retreating. "Don't move." I ordered with a demanding voice. He did as I said but he did not turn around to face me. "Would you like to tell me who you are?"

"Not particularly." He said back to me.

"Then mind telling me what a human like you is doing in this kind of situation?" I asked. That was when the masked figure turned in my direction. I noticed the knife in his hand first then the pentagram necklace that he wore. "You're a hunter." I said in realization.

He didn't respond. He quickly ran away in the direction he had come in. I was about to run after him but then I remembered something. "Oh God, Jensen!" I headed in the direction that Amon had said he had flung Jensen in. I ran as fast as I could and found him lying next to a tree. "Jensen." I called. I ran up to him and knelt down on the ground beside him. I lifted up his head and his eyes began to open. "Hey," I smiled lightly at him. "You ok?"

"Yeah." He said and slowly sat up. "What happened?"

"You tripped over the tree root over there when we were walking and you hit your head on the rock. It was pretty graceful." I teased, hoping it would seem more realistic. "Come on, we should get back and put some ice on that." I said and helped him get back on his feet.

"Thanks." He said, and we started to make our way back to the party.


End file.
